Of Family & Mistletoe
by charmony
Summary: NPH 4 - Emily is alone this Christmas and Jess is playing match maker while the Hotchner's struggle to deal with their first Christmas without Haley; how will it all turn out?


**A/N: This is my belated tribute to Christmas. Hope you all enjoy this next instalment of NPH.**

**PLEASE NOTE: This is NPH 4. If you aren't already following this series, I recommend that you make your way to my author profile page and start with NPH 1, as some or all of this will not make sense otherwise.**

**DISCLAIMER: I sadly do not own Criminal Minds, its storylines or characters. I can only claim to manipulate them for the purposes of this story.**

Of Family & Mistletoe

Aaron Hotchner walked toward the church for midnight mass on the first Christmas Eve his son would spend without his mother and knew nothing about this night or the day tomorrow would be easy. His son was unusually solemn and had spent the majority of the day watching video taken of him playing with his mother. The silent crying had been the worst of it. He hadn't known quite how to deal with it but had joined his son on the couch as often as he could in support.

All around him people approached the large cathedral in family groups, couples or friends, laughing and talking about their plans for the following day. Christmas colours were out in force and everywhere he looked signs of Christmas were about. Because this midnight mass was so important, everyone had dressed for the occasion; despite the colours there were a lot of suits amongst the men and the women all wore dresses or skirts despite the cold turning their breath to white vapour.

He stepped inside the church and looked around for somewhere to sit and blinked as two familiar heads of curls to his right caught his eye. He walked in that direction, pleased that he wouldn't have to deal with this evening on his own.

Jack also spotted them and Aaron was surprised to see his son smile of a sudden and tug out of his hand. Pleasure wiped away his worry at how well he was obviously getting along with his aunt, uncle and cousins when his son called out happily, "Em'ly! Em'ly you're here!"

Emily looked up with a warm smile for Jack and scooped him up as he launched his small body at her.

"Hey sweetheart. It is so good to see you again. But listen, here in this building we need to speak with normal or quiet voices, okay?"

"Cause this is a church and it's special," Jack said seriously with a nod and Emily beamed a smile at him that he returned shyly.

"That's it exactly Jack-Jack. Perfect."

Aaron watched Jack snuggle close to her, looking happier than he had for the last week. Not even baking Christmas cupcakes had brought a smile to his face, despite how much he loved to cook and Aaron frowned slightly as he tried to figure out what it was this woman was doing that he couldn't see that would do what he hadn't been able to do.

Emily noticed the look on Hotch's face and winced slightly. She'd overstepped her bounds she knew and she needed to apologise.

"Hey Jack, why don't you say hi to your cousins while I say hello to your dad."

"Okay," he said as she set him on his feet again.

She made her way to Hotch and said softly, "I'm sorry if I stepped on your toes just now setting Jack straight. I didn't mean to step out of bounds."

He looked surprised, but shook his head. "No, you didn't do anything wrong. You were right and if you hadn't, it would have been either Jess, Mitch and myself that did it. No, I was wondering how it was you managed to get such animation and enthusiasm out of Jack when for the last week, all I've had to deal with is sadness, tears and tantrums."

"He's missing Haley; it's understandable that he'd be upset at the thought of spending the day without his mother present. My first Christmas after my dad died was horrible. My mother was drunk the whole day and my nanny was stuck trying to calm my hysterics at spending the day without both of my parents present. It was a nightmare for all concerned. At least Jack has you and he knows deep down that you love him more than anything. If you like, I'll see what I can do to ease the way for you to have a semblance of a happy day tomorrow."

He was surprised at the offer but he shouldn't have been. The Emily Prentiss he knew so well was a warm, giving woman who couldn't stand to see suffering continue, especially when it came to children. He should have known she'd make such an offer once she knew the situation.

"If you're sure you don't mind, I would love it if you could talk to Jack. I really don't like to see him so unhappy and I want tomorrow to mark the start of a turning point for the better for both of us."

She smiled and it was filled with understanding and such caring that his heart stopped beating and his breath backed up in his lungs. "It does get better, I promise you that. And if you need anything at all, just pick up the phone and call me. Night or day; even if all you want is a sounding board for you and for me to talk to Jack about how he's feeling. Know I'll be there no matter what."

She turned to see where Jack was sitting and Aaron let the air out of his lungs in a whoosh. He'd only seen that look in her eyes once before and it had been accompanied by such pain he'd felt as if she'd sliced him with a knife even though she was gracefully letting him go at the time. And suddenly he was wondering if maybe he wasn't the only one thinking about the past of late.

New Section-

"So Aaron, lunch tomorrow as usual?"

He smiled. "If you're sure it's not an issue Jess?"

She rolled her eyes and smacked his arm lightly in exasperation. "It was never an issue before and it won't be tomorrow. Emily will be joining us also, much to Jack's delight." They both looked over at where Jack sat on Emily's lap, listening intently to what she had to say. "Jack asked her if she was spending Christmas with her mother and I overheard her reply that her mother wasn't even in the country this year and that she didn't have anything special planned. Since she is the only person I know who is getting Jack to verbalise his feelings and not internalise them, I jumped at the chance to have her around for Jack's sake and for her own. I hope that was alright?"

He looked at her carefully, suddenly suspicious of her nonchalantly voiced question. "Jess, you wouldn't be trying to match make between Emily and I, would you?" Seconds later he had his answer as she averted her gaze and started guiltily. He sighed and pulled her into a hug. "Did Haley by any chance ever mention to you the summer of '93?"

"She may have mentioned it."

"You do realise that was over long ago and now it is just business between us?"

"I know that. I also know Haley blackmailed her name out of you by making it a condition to see if you were serious about wanting her back in your life so she could keep an eye on her movements and make sure neither of you had contact with the other. What you may not know is that she had a massive fit when she realised Emily was now working with you. But my sister is dead and you are not and I love you like the brother I never had. I desperately want to see you happy again and I know Haley would want the same for you both as well. Jack totally adores Emily and thinks the world of her. She is what Jack needs; perhaps she's also what you need now too?"

Jess lightly patted his arm and moved forward to collect her family. Out of the flurry of children, Jack came flying to give him a hug and he scooped his little man up off the ground and kissed his cheek. "Hey buddy. You ready to go home now?"

"Yeah daddy. Em'ly said she's going to see us 'morrow cause she's coming to aunt Jess's for lunch too. Isn't that cool daddy?"

"It definitely is," he said softly as the woman in question walked up and blew a raspberry on Jack's cheek. He giggled and immediately moved to wipe it off.

"I will see you tomorrow Jack-Jack. Remember what I said tonight okay?"

He nodded enthusiastically and lunged half out of his father's arms to hug her and place a noisy kiss on her cheek. She smiled as he settled back in his arms and then she turned that smile his way with a nod before walking out of the church.

Suddenly he couldn't wait til lunch time to see her again.

New Section-

Emily felt nervous about joining Hotch's family for Christmas but if she was truthful with herself (which she did always try to be) she was extremely excited to be spending time with Aaron Hotchner again. And being able to help Jack through what could quite possibly be a traumatic day was a giant plus in her book.

She shifted her bag of goodies and pressed the doorbell. Someone had obviously been waiting for her as an excited "Em'ly's here" rang out loud enough for the entire neighbourhood to hear. Emily was laughing as the door opened and Jack threw his body out of it. She quickly moved the bag out of the way and hugged him tight as she caught sight of Mitch Stephen's, Jess's husband and her host for the day, watching to make sure all was well with his nephew. He winked at her and smiled as he approached.

"Emily, welcome. Merry Christmas."

His warmth was infectious and she returned his smile with pleasure as she lightly kissed his cheek.

"Merry Christmas Mitch. Thank you so much for having me. I brought a hostess gift for Jess and a few other goodies as promised for my young friend here."

He grinned and gestured her into the warmth of the house as Jack begged to see his goodies. She bade him to wait patiently as she divested herself of her jacket and shoes and followed the two males down to the kitchen where all the action appeared to be taking place.

Jess greeted her just as warmly and her kids, 7 year old Daniel and 5 year old Sean exclaimed in delight over the iced cupcakes she pulled out of the bag as part of the goodies she'd promised to Jack. Jess was thrilled with her gift of an exotic spice rack complete with spices and quickly added it to her huge collection. She wished Hotch a Merry Christmas and was quickly informed that there would be no formality that day. It was either Aaron or he wasn't answering her.

She raised an eyebrow as she inclined her head and wondered how she would continue to guard her heart around this man when she didn't have work between them as a solid shield.

She threw herself into helping with lunch preparations as a distraction and within a short time they sat down to a fully-laden table to eat. Conversation was easy and light, though being seated beside Aaron and having everything either passed from him to her or vice versa made for a couple of awkward moments as their hands brushed and electricity sizzled between them.

After the cleanup had concluded she pulled Jack aside to see how he was doing as the males in the family argued for the opportunity to watch some sports in the den before a Christmas day tradition started in an hour.

"Hey Jack-Jack, how are you doing sweetheart?"

Jack thought about it seriously and said softly, "I still miss my mum but it doesn't hurt as much because I know she is here having fun with us and by now she would have met your dad who you said is always with you so I know she wouldn't be lonely anymore cause everyone loves my mum and so they would be friends."

Emily blinked; she honestly hadn't thought of that angle. But if it brought young Jack Hotchner the comfort he needed to move on with life, she wasn't going to be the one to discourage this way of thinking.

"That is so true little man, which means they are having an awesome Chrissie together because my dad always made today so much fun."

He nodded with a sudden grin. "Yeah, mummy loved fun, especially on Christmas day. Wow, maybe we should find them someone to keep an eye on them in case they get into too much mischief."

Emily laughed so hard she fell off her chair. Jack just looked at her like she was weird for a second and then walked off to find his cousins. A minute later, Aaron appeared in the doorway just as she was beginning to get her laughter under control. The look he gave her was so much like Jack's that she started laughing all over again. It took her another couple of minutes to stop before she could explain what had happened and when Aaron chuckled at her explanation as she dropped onto the couch beside him, it set her off again.

They were still laughing when she turned her head to look at him at the same time he did the same. Laughter dammed in her throat and desire so strong she shook with it filled her in a heartbeat. She saw the same look in his eyes a moment before he hooked a hand around her neck and tugged her closer. He paused with their lips a centimetre apart and studied her closely. When she didn't protest, he moved in the rest of the way and sent them both to heaven in a heartbeat.

New Section-

Jess flicked a look at the mistletoe hanging over the couch and stepped silently back out of the room with a gleeful smile as she congratulated herself on a job well done.

End-


End file.
